Anthony Coley, who serves as Communications Director for Governor Jon Corzine, will be leaving his post within the next month to explore new opportunities.  Coley worked for U.S. Senator Zell Miller and Rep. Harold Ford before joining Corzine’s U.S. Senate staff.  Corzine has not announced a successor.

Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino is leaving office in a few weeks – the victim of a bad ballot position that removes perhaps the most intellectually superior and politically savvy county official from public service.

Now, with the tribute to Inglesino over, he did leave himself open to one opportunity for abuse.  Earlier this year, he told PolitickerNJ.com’s Matt Friedman that while he was “not going to participate in all of the speculation” about the 2009 gubernatorial campaign -- "the only people who speculate about things that happen that far out in advance are fools,” Inglesino explained – he did have kind words for one of the likely candidates: Chris Christie.

Governor Jon Corzine is already getting a return on his investment. He announced this week that he would contribute $1 million to Rutgers University as part of his decision to help raise money to privately finance a stadium expansion. Now Rutgers has announced that they have hired Jeannine LaRue, Corzine’s Deputy Chief of Staff, for a new position to advise Rutgers on government relations at an annual salary of $250,000 – about double what she was making in the Governor’s office.

Before joining the Corzine administration, LaRue was the Senior Vice President of Goverment Affairs at the state's largest health care system, St. Barnabas, and was the lobbyist for the New Jersey Education Association.

Ocean County Republicans will hold a screening committee meeting on Saturday morning to meet the candidates for Jim Saxton’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In Ocean County, where GOP Chairman George Gilmore rules firmly, an endorsement from the screening committee is almost tantamount to a victory at the open county GOP convention – which will be held on Monday night.

The likely Burlington County candidate, Medford Deputy Mayor and Lockheed Martin Vice President Christopher Myers, plans to screen in Ocean – sources say that former GOP State Chairman David Norcross will not appear before the screening committee, a strong indication that he has decided not to run.  Insiders

Hoboken police arrested former Mayor Steve Cappiello, 84, Wednesday night on drunk driving charges. Congratulations are extended to the Hoboken Police Department for cracking the case so quickly; they have been busy trying to figure out what happened to Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny on July 18.

Washington Township (Morris County) Mayor Kevin Walsh will plead not guilty to charges that he physically assaulted a woman in his home on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  According to published reports, Walsh grabbed her throat and arms as he tried to force her to the floor.  This raises an interesting question: while politicians seem to believe elected officials charged with corruption must resign their office immediately, should the same standard apply to politicians who face assault charges?

In Fairfield Township, where Democratic Township Committeeman Albert Beverly lost re-election to Republican Patrick Conahey by just five votes, lawyers for both sides will be before a Cumberland County Superior Court Judge this month to discuss the legal merits of a recount.  Clearly, Beverly wants a recount and Conahey does not. 

Right now, it’s looking like a two-candidate race for Mike Ferguson’s seventh district House seat between Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance and Kate Whitman, the 30-year-old daughter of the former Governor. Somerset Republican insiders say that Assemblyman Peter Biondi and Freeholder Jack Ciattarelli will be the next to announce that they won’t run for Congress.

Union County has two candidates who are, at this point, second tier: Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield. Both will need to show considerable fundraising success by the end of this month – there won’t be another report due until April – and then one of them will have to dominate the local endorsement game, where Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. is the biggest catch. Kean could stay out of the race – a message to Union County Republicans that Lance and Whitman are stronger candidates – or endorse Lance outright.

Former Governor Brendan Byrne has an explanation as to why his autograph was currently selling on E-Bay for $3.00, while autographs of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg and former Governors Jim Florio and Tom Kean are priced at between $24.75 and $29.99.

“It’s the market,” Byrne told PolitickerNJ.com’s Matt Friedman.  “There are

Republican insiders seem a bit underwhelmed by their choice of candidates to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg next year – neither Anne Evans Estabrook, a millionaire developer making her first bid for public office, or Joseph Pennacchio, a dentist and four-term Assemblyman who won a State Senate seat last month, seem to have been successful in convincing Republicans that they can beat Lautenberg next year. 

“It's the choice between Forrester-Lite and Diet Schundler,” one Republican County Chairman told PolitickerNJ.com.